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Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

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Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#1

Post by 44Bulldog »

I'm someone who got into building/programming in early 2025, when vibe coding tools became more usable. Since then, I'd like to think that I have developed a lot as a programmer, but I still have this deep sense of imposter syndrome / worry that AI is too much of a crutch and I'm not really learning.

I have shipped a few projects, I always review AI-suggested code, do daily coding practice without AI, watch youtube videos, etc. but still don't know if I'm striking the right balance or whether I can really call myself a programmer.

I often see people say that the solution is to just fully learn to code without AI, (i.e, go "cold turkey"), which may be the best, but I wonder if the optimal path is somewhere in between given that AI is clearlly changing the game here in terms of what it means to be a programmer.

I'm curious how you have all handled this balancing act in the past few years. More concretely, what strategies do you use to both be efficient and able to ship / move quickly while ensuring you are also taking the time to really process and understand and learn what you are doing?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#3

Post by jmathai »

I learned all of my programming outside of university and textbooks. It’s one way to learn. Not the only way though - and it has its limits - but you can get pretty far.

But here is my advice. Learning by doing with AI seems akin to copying source from one location (I.e. view source, stackoverflow).

My tips:

- Understand all of the code in a commit before committing it (per feature/bug).

- Learn by asking AI for other ways or patterns to accomplish the something it suggests.

- Ask Claude Code to explain the code until you understand it.

- If code looks complex, ask if it can be simplified. Then ask why the simple solution is better.

- Tell AI that you’d like to use OOP, functional programming, etc.

One way to measure if you’re learning is to pay attention to how often you accept AI’s first suggestion versus how many times you steer it in a different direction,

It’s really endless if your mindset is to build AND learn. I don’t think you need to worry about it based on the fact you’re here asking this question.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#5

Post by politelemon »

jmathai wrote: post #3

I learned all of my programming outside of university and textbooks. It’s one way to learn. Not the only way though - and it has its limits - but you can get pretty far. But here is my advice. Learning by doing with AI seems akin to copying source from one location (I.e. view source, stackoverflow). My tips: - Understand all of the code in a commit before committing it (per feature/bug). - Learn by asking AI for othe…

I have found I'm always having to steer it in the right direction. I will think I've given it the right amount of instructions but it tends to do dumb things in ways I haven't anticipated.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#6

Post by codetiger »

jmathai wrote: post #3

I learned all of my programming outside of university and textbooks. It’s one way to learn. Not the only way though - and it has its limits - but you can get pretty far. But here is my advice. Learning by doing with AI seems akin to copying source from one location (I.e. view source, stackoverflow). My tips: - Understand all of the code in a commit before committing it (per feature/bug). - Learn by asking AI for othe…

Came here to type something similar and saw this comment. +1

Just repeat this until you understand a language's unique ways of implementing things, and understand why a language has those choices compared to others. I always pick one of these experiments to learn a new language with/out LLM support. 1. Ray tracing 2. Gameboy Emulator 3. Expression evaluation (JSONLogic or Regex)

These are super easy to implement in 100s of lines of code, however if you want to optimize or perfect the implementation, it takes forever and you need to know a language's nuances to get it better. Focus on performance tuning these implementations and see how far you can go.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#7

Post by micaeked »

I recommend zachtronics games. I wouldn't go as far as to claim direct knowledge or skill transfer to "real" programming, but it sure feels like it's exercising the metaphorical muscles in a very different way.

Side note, I'm assuming you find joy in programming. If you don't, there's better ways to spend your time.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#8

Post by jmward01 »

From your description it sounds like you have the most important stuff: variety, a willingness to do things and a willingness to seek advice. I doubt anyone on HN really knows what it takes to learn to be a coder in the new vibe world. It is really too soon to have seen people 'grow up' and the paths that lead to success or not. In general though if you want to learn something you need to do stuff related to what you want to learn, you need to do stuff in many different ways and you need to ask others what they are doing and have done to see if their paths can help you. Keep doing those things and you will likely be fine. The only other advice I can give you you probably already know, find a passion project. For me it was (initially) fractals. Then it was a thousand other things. One passion project will get you through a lot of learning.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#9

Post by keepamovin »

Is this like learning calligraphy in the typesetting era?

Before the AI era, I didn’t know much bash, but I was a reasonably OK programmer besides that I think. I found by getting AI to write me a lot of bash scripts and following along and then making edits myself when I needed small things changed I ended up with the ability to write bash now, and actually kind of appreciated as a language where as before I thought it was confusing. YMMV

Like anything with enough dedication you can achieve what you want.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone else struggle with how to learn coding in the AI era?

#10

Post by Antibabelic »

keepamovin wrote: post #9

Is this like learning calligraphy in the typesetting era? Before the AI era, I didn’t know much bash, but I was a reasonably OK programmer besides that I think. I found by getting AI to write me a lot of bash scripts and following along and then making edits myself when I needed small things changed I ended up with the ability to write bash now, and actually kind of appreciated as a language where as before I thought…

This is a strange analogy, because learning calligraphy is essential for any type designer worth their salt. Read The Stroke by Gerrit Noordzij.
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